Polish Film Festival Shows Mix of Movie Genres

October 25, 2011
BUFFALO, NY − Canisius University will present Polish Film Showcase 2011from Thursday, November 10 to Sunday, November 13. The event, which is sponsored by The Permanent Chair of Polish Culture at Canisius University, will be held at the Montante Cultural Center. All films are with English subtitles and are subject to change. 
    • Monday, November 7 - Irena Sendler: in the Name of Their Mothers(Documentary) at 7 p.m. The 95 year-old Polish heroine Irena Sendler tells the unknown story of a conspiracy of women who outwitted the Nazis and rescued thousands of Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. Meet the director: Mary Skinner. This special bonus preview day of the Polish Film Festival with free admission is sponsored by the Joseph J. Naples Conversations in Christ and Culture Lecture and Performance Series and the Polish Legacy Project.

    • Thursday, November 10 - WGRANY (The Winner, drama, 2011) at 7 p.m. Directed by Wieslaw Saniewski. The film is the story of a young pianist. After losing everything, an accidental meeting with his former math teacher and an avid horsetrack gambler helps him find his way in life.

    • Friday, November 11 - Sluby Panienskie (War of Love, comedy, 2010) at 7 p.m. Directed by Filip Bajon. The early 19th century comedic play by Aleksander Fredro, still popular in Polish theatres, is brought to the big screen.

    • Saturday, November 12 - Czarny Czwartek (Black Thursday, drama 2010) at 7 p.m. Directed by Antoni Krauze. This film is dedicated to the workers’ strikes that swept over Polish coastal cities in December of 1970, only to be brutally crushed by communist authorities. Black Thursday focuses on the story of the family of Gdynia shipyard worker Brunon Drywa.

  • Sunday, November 13
      • Labirynt (Labyrinth, documentary, 2010) at 3:30 p.m. Memory, art and hell collide as an Auschwitz survivor finally confronts the horrors of his past after 50 years of silence. Rev. Ron Schmidt, S.J, Labyrinth’s producer; will give an introduction to the film at3:00 p.m.

    • Joanna (drama, 2010) at 4:00 p.m. The film is set during WWII under Nazi rule. A young woman whose husband has gone missing during the war takes care of a small Jewish girl. Meet the director: Feliks Falk.
Tickets for all screenings (except November 7) are $5 and are available at the door. Free parking available in Lyons Hall lots #1, #2 and #4. For more information, call the Office of Modern Languages at (716) 888-2835 or visit the website

Canisius University is one of 28 Jesuit, Catholic colleges in the nation and the premier private college in Western New York. Canisius prepares leaders – intelligent, caring, faithful individuals – able to pursue and promote excellence in their professions, their communities and their service to humanity.